Electromechanical scent distribution to accompany a motion picture



Aug. 7, 1951 E. STERN ELECTROMECHANICAL SCENT DISTRIBUTION T0 ACCOMPANYA MOTION-PICTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 13, 1947 FIG. 2.

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INVENTOR. EMERY I. srmqq.

HIS ATTORNEY Aug. 7, 1951 Filed Oct. 13, 1947 ELECTROMEC TO ACC E. I.STERN HANICAL SCENT OMPANY A MOTIO 2,562,959 DISTRIBUTION N-PICTURE 3Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR: EMERY a. STERN.

l-HS ATTCRNE-Y Patented Aug. 7, 1951 ELECTROMECHANICAL SCENT DISTRIBU-TION TO ACCOMPANY A MOTION PICTURE Emery I. Stern, Jackson Heights, N.Y. Application October 13, 1947, Serial No. 779,628

I 4 Claims. (01. 88-16) This invention relates to release anddistribution of scents to accompany a motion picture, and it is animprovement on my co-pending application for Releasing and SynchronizingMethods and Means for Scents, Serial No. 561,751, filed November 3, 1944now abandoned.

The main object of my invention is to provide a device whereby suchaction may be performed by electromechanical means in a different mannerthan disclosed in my said co-pending application.

My present invention also aims to provide means whereby a great varietyof scents, and great variety of sequences, may be combined to accompanythe showing of a motion picture, through a comparatively simple, easilyoperated, and still reliable means.

Other objects of this invention will appear as the specification of thesame proceeds or will be pointed out therein.

In the drawings, forming a part of this specification and accompanyingthe same:

Fig. l is a diagram showing a preferred form of an electro mechanicalscent selector device, according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is a semi-diagrammatic, partly sectional view of one of the scentdistribution systems to be used with it;

Fig. 3 shows a portion of a travelling film in which perforations areprovided for controlling the scent selection, and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the device for using said filmin the scent selector.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, by characters ofreference, in Fig. l the numeral 20 indicates a scent selector film, thesame film also being indicated in Fig. 3, and, as will be explainedhereinafter, said film operates in synchronism with a motion picturefilm, the showing of which is to be accompanied by release ofappropriate scents.

Light sources 2|, 22 and 23 throw their beams on the scent selector film20 but normally can not penetrate the same, said film being entirelyopaque, in the present embodiment of my invention.

Three rows of holes, generally indicated by the numerals 24, 25 and 26,however, are provided in the scent selecting film 20, said holes beingopposite to, and in line with, the respective light sources 2 '22 and23, and it will be seen that any time a hole in a respective row willregister with the respective light source, the light beam of the samemay pass through said hole.

Three photo-electric relay switches, designated by the letters S, R, N,are arranged in registering 2 relation with the respective light sources2|, 22 and 23, and, as will be explained presently, the first one,designated by the letter S, will serve to select a scent when a hole inrow 24, for scents, in the film 20, passes opposite to the light source2|, and, similarly, the photo-electric call R will operate to repeatsaid scent when it is desired, while the last photo-electric cell N,will operate to release a neutralizing agent, following the scentpreviously distributed, when such an action is desired. In Fig. 4 isshown, in a diagrammatic manner, the synchronized cooperation of amotion pic ture film 21 and the mentioned scent selecting film 20.

The numeral 28 indicates the feeding reel of the motion picture film,said film being unrolled in the direction of arrow 29, in a usualprojector device (not shown), passing through the film gate 30, andoperating, by its usual perforations, a sprocket disk 3|.

The scent selecting film is unwound from a reel 32, by the sprocket 33,which is driven from the sprocket 3| by a reduction device 34, so thatpreferably the speed of the scent selecting film 20 will be much slowerthan that of the motion picture film 21, but the two, obviously, will beentirely in synchronism.

Film 20, also, will pass through a guide device 35, and the threephoto-electric cells S, R, N, pref erably are arranged at one side ofsaid device, while at the other side of said guide device are arrangedthe three light sources 2|, '22 and 23'. The respective photo-electriccells and light sources are registering with one another, andregistering openings are provided in the two sides of guide 35 to permitthe light beam to pass therethrough and strike the respectivephoto-electric cell when a hole of its row will move between them.

Returning now to Fig. 1, when a hole 24 passes between the light source2| and the photoelectric cell S, the light will operate on the device S,which acts as a relay switch for the circuit of the motor 38, saidcircuit generally being indicated by the numeral 31 and having anyappropriate source of power, as at 38.

Upon an activation of the photo-electric cell or relay switch S, motor36 will start, and, through a reducing gear 39, it will turn the camdisk 40, of course at a greatly reduced speed compared to the speed ofthe motor. Said cam disk may have one single cam extension or lobe 4|,and the arrangement of the device is such that, normally, said lobe willpress at the inner end 42 of a lever 43, pivoted at 44, whereby theasoaesc 3 outer end 45 of said lever will be separated from anelectrical contact 46. Said end 45 is electrically connected, of coursein an insulated manner, to one branch 41 of the motor circuit, asindicated at 48, while the electrical contact 46 is connected to theother branch 49 of the said circuit, as indicated at 50.

As soon as the motor 36 starts operating and rotates cam disk 40, thelobe 4! will leave the lever 43, and the spring 5| will close thecontacts 45 and 46, closing the motor circuit and keeping the sameclosed; The motor will run for a full rotation of the cam disk 40, thatis, as long as the lobe 44 will again arrive to the lever end 42', willpress the same downwardly, against the spring 5|, and will break thecontacts 45 and 46. In this manner, it will be seen, the motor will bekept running forone rotation of the disk 40, even while the relay switchS may have closed its circuit only for a very short period of time whilethe respective hole '24 was passing in front of light source 2!.

In the present scent selecting system another,

much larger and slower moving, cam disk 52a is provided, which is drivenat such greatly reduced speed by a reducing gear device, generallyingicated by the numeral 53, as will be unders d.

The purpose of this second, large and slow moving, cam disk 52 is torelease a scent by a prearranged plan, as controlled through the holesin row 24 in the film or tape 20.

When arranging said plan, first the motion picture film 21 will be runall, keenly observed, and measured by any appropriate means, will how tothose versed in this art, and various scenes and their times noted,where the distribution of certain scents in the audience will bedesirable in order to enhance the impression and effect of those scenes.

After establishing the sequence and times of the scents, the respectiveholes 24 will be provided in the scent selecting film 20, by anyappropriate means.

The scents in the present embodiment of the invention are arranged inappropriate containers 54 (Fig. 2) in liquid form, and will be vaporizedand carried into pipes or ducts 55 when an air stream will be blown overthem through vaporizing pipes 56, as it is well known in this art. Saidvaporizing pipes are connected into compressed air pipe lines 51, whichwill have a substantially constant high pressure therein, beingconnected to the compressed air tank 58a. Tank 56a preferably is fed byseveral compressors 59a, so that the pressure in the whole compressedair system will be kept at a desired high level and as constant aspossible.

Reducing and regulating valves 58 are provided in each vaporizing airpipe 56, and each pipe normally is closed by a valve 59, which, however,is connected to and operated by a solenoid 60. The solenoids areinserted into respective electric circuits 6| (Figs. 1 and 2), onebranch 6la thereof being attached to the conductor line 62, which willlead to an appropriate source of power 63 for said solenoids, which maybe the same as the source of power 38 for the motor 36, or may beanother suitable source of electrical power. The other branch Nb of thesolenoids 60 will be connected with respective contact sockets 64 in aswitchboard 65.

A second switchboard 66 is also provided, hav- A plurality of electricswitches, generally indicated by the numeral 69, are equidistantlyarranged around the circumference of the cam disk 52 (Fig. 1). Onecontact 660. of said switches is connected to one of the respectiveupper contact sockets 61a in the upper switchboard 66, as by wires 69b,while the other contact 690 of the mentioned switches is connected intothe return branch 10a of the power circuit 63 for the soleacids 60.

In the embodiment shown, there are thirty switches 69 around the camdisk 52, and there are thirty pairs of upper contact sockets 61 in theswitchboard 66.

In the embodiment shown, there also is one more pair of contact sockets610:, the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter.

Each switch 69 and the corresponding contact socket 67a is adapted tooperate one scent, whereby this embodiment of the device is constructedfor thirty scents, but, of course, devices may be constructed, on theprinciple herein disclosed, for less or more scents, as desired.

It is also to be observed that in Fig. 2 I show only eight scents, forthe sake of cleamess of showing, while, of course, the compressed airand other .pipes or conduits there shown may be extended to accommodatethirty scent units 54, to correspond to Fig. l, as will be obvious.

It also will be observed that the contact points 69a in the thirtyswitches 69, normally are open, but, upon the operation of thephoto-electric cell S, as described, and then the motor 36, gearing 53and the large cam disk 52, the said disk will be moved, and its singleshort projection or cam lobe 52a will pass over the next adjacent switch69a, closing the same for a short interval of time. The proportion ofrevolutions between the smaller cam disk 46 and the large cam disk 52,in this embodiment, will be arranged in such a manner, that the largecam disk 52 will rotate thirty times slower, that is, one fullrevolution of the cam disk 40 will correspond to /30 of a revolution ofthe large cam disk 52, so that it will be understood that cam projection52a, for one revolution of the cam disk 40, will operate only oneadjacent switch 69. Upon cam disk 40 completing one revolution, itsprojection or cam lobe 5| will again arrive to the lever 43 and willbreak the contact points 45 and 46, thereby stopping the movement of themotor 36 and the cam disk 52, after the same operated on one singleswitch 69, let us say 69d.

For the short period of time said switch was operated on (and then thenext switch 69c, as shown in l ig. 1) it will be closed and therebycloses a solenoid circuit through the use of a respective contact socket61a in switchboard 66, as will be shown presently.

In the lower switchboard 65, the contact sockets 64 correspond to thevarious scents, and they are connected to the respective solenoids, ashas been explained hereinbefore.

After the scent sequence for a certain film to be shown has beenestablished, and the scent control film 20 produced according to suchsequence, the upper contacts 61 will be connected by respective wires 10into corresponding sockets 64. So, for instance, the first pair ofcontact sockets 61, designated by the numeral 61b, and connected to saidnext switch 69c, has a lower socket, which, for indicating the sequenceand number of such pairs in this embodiment, is designated by thenumeral I, and, in the scent seq ence now to be used, is connected tothe socket 010, in the lower switchboard, by the Jumper wire I0, andthereby completes the circuit of a certain solenoid 60b which operates apredetermined scent, as will be obvious.

On the other hand, the last switch 68d in the arrangement shown in Fig.1, which is permanentl connected to the socket 2 in the upperswitchboard 66, will in this arrangement be plugged into the socket 61din the lower switchboard 65, whereby said switch will close a circuitfor the solenoid 60d. controlling another scent.

In the manner now indicated, first the switches 09 to be used will beplugged into appropriate sockets 64 in the lower switchboard 55 tooperate the required scents at the necessary moments, as will beobvious, and it will be seen that as the control film 20 travels, itwill operate the photo-electric cells s for the respective scents at therespective moments, and therethrough the switches 69, whereby therespective solenoid circuits 6I will be closed, and the respectivescents 54 released for a short period of time.

When a solenoid 60 opens its valve 59, the compressed air from conduitsor pipes 51 will blow over the scent containers 54 and will vaporize andcarry a predetermined amount of scent in a predetermined concentrationin the conduits 55, and therethrough into the main scent pipe or duct'II. Said main or duct Il may have a mixing device I2 inserted thereinas well as an air suction device or fan I3, after which its contentsproceeds into the auditorium, as indicated by the arrow I4. The finaldistribution of the scent in the auditorium may be performed in anyappropriate manner, one of which has been described in my saidco-pending application, Ser. No. 561,751.

As also has been explained in my said copending application, theair-scent mixture is to be diluted to a desired predetermined degree, aswell as the speed of its emanation, and its temperature, are to beregulated so as to make it substantially imperceptible to the audienceas by a change in the current of air, or in the temperature, its entryinto the auditorium to be noticed only by the scent carried with it.

For this purpose additional air may be added into the conduits 55, thesame being provided by an air pump device I5, and electrical heatingdevices I6, I1 and I8 may be inserted at appropriate places into saidadditional air currents. Further additional air may be allowed to enterinto the system by the suction operation of the fan 13 in the mainconduit II, as indicated at I9.

One purpose of fan I3, however, is to create suction at the vaporizingdevices 54, 58, and prevent jamming there.

Obviously, all these air mixtures, pressures, speeds, etc., will becontrolled by appropriate devices, well known in this art.

In some cases it is desired to have a certain scent kept released for alonger period than allowed by the short operation of the cam projection52a, and in such cases, I provide means whereby the last released scentmay be repeated and again released.

For this purpose I provide a stationary ring of insulating material I00,underneath and independent of the rotating cam disk 52, on which is acontinuous contact ring IOI, and thirty individual contacts I02corresponding to the thirty switches 08, and each being connected to onerespective switch, as indicated at I00.

A contact I00 is carried by the cam disk 52 and it always will bebridging the individual contact I02 corresponding to the last activatedswitch 69 and the permanent contact ring IOI. Contact ring IN isconnected to the photo-electric relay switch R, as at I05, said switch Rbeing activated by the film 20 only in case the last distributed scentis to be repeated, and it will be seen that in such a case the circuitof the last activated solenoid will again be closed through the contactring MI, and the individual contacts I02, and, obviously, the lastreleased scent will be repeated.

In case any other scent is desired to be repeated than the last one, thesame may simply be done by certain Jumper wire plugging on switchboard66.

II for instance, in an example indicated in Fig. 1, when the cam lobe52a arrives to the seventh switch 69, the same scent is to be releasedas was done through the first switch 592, then the respective uppersocket 61b for said first switch will be plugged into the lower socket Icorresponding to the seventh switch 69, and this plugging is done by thejumper wire I06.

Obviously, when the cam lobe 52a arrives to the seventh switch, it willclose the same circuit, including sockets 61b and 510, as was the casefor said first scent, and said scent will be repeated.

As has been mentioned in my said co-pending application, it may bedesired to release a neutralizing agent after a scent, and for thisoperation appropriate holes 26 will be provided in the scent controlfilm 20. When such a hole arrives to the photo-electric relay switch N,it will activate the same and thereby release directly a neutralizingagent, which is indicated at 5411 controlled by the solenoid 6011.

A socket 00 corresponds in the lower switch 55 to the solenoid 501i andis connected into the upper sockets Nb and 61a: and therethrough to thephoto-electric relay switch N, as by the conductor 8|. The other branch82 of the circuit of the photo-electric relay switch N is connected intothe return line 10a of the power circuit 60. It will be seen that uponthe activation of the photo-electric relay switch N, the neutralizingagent will be released for a moment from the container 541:.

With reference to the release of the scents into an auditorium, insteadof providing tubes, pipes and ducts to carry them from a central place,obviously a number or scent containers may be arranged at strategicplaces and the scents released simultaneously, as desired, as by meansdescribed hereinbefore.

What I claim as new and want to protect by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

1. In a device to release scents to accompany the showing of a motionpicture, a motion picture film driving member, a control film havingphoto-electrically responsive markings thereon, a second driving memberfor said control film, means for actuating both said driving members insynchronism, a plurality of scent-laden mediums normally confined,releasing means for each of said scent-laden mediums, a switchboard anelhaving a plurality of selector contact means corresponding in number tosaid releasing means, and control means for said panel all electricallyinterconnected, photo-electric means electrically connected to saidcontrol means, said photo-electric means energizable by said controlfilm to actuate said control means to operate said releasing meansthrough said switchboard panel contact means to release a selectedscent-laden medium.

2. The structure of claim 1, said control means including supplementarymeans also energizable by said photo-electric means and control film forrepeating the operation of a scent-releasing means.

3. The structure of claim 1, scent neutralizing means, said switchboardpanel including an elec trical connection energizable by saidphoto-electric means and control film to actuate said scent neutralizingmeans.

4. In a device to release scents to accompany the showing of motionpictures, a motion picture film projector and a control member actuatedthereby, a plurality of scent-laden mediums normally confined, releasingmeans for each of said scent-laden mediums, a switchboard panel having aplurality of selector contact means corresponding in number to saidreleasing means, control means for said panel all electricallyinterconnected, means for electrically connecting said selector contactmeans to selected ones of said scent releasing means, and means actuatedby said control member to actuate said control means and energize saidswitchboard panel contact means to operate said selected scent releasingmeans in sequence, said control means comprising a motor, a rotatabledisc 0perated thereby and a plurality of switches electrically connectedto said switchboard panel contact means, said switches actuatable bysaid rotatable disc.

EMERY I. STERN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

